The Mission of the Church

One of the most significant topics and sustaining conversations in my generation is the mission of the church.  Fifteen years ago, “missional” wasn’t in most evangelical’s vocabulary, even less so in their practice.  But in recent years, there has been so much talk about mission from all corners of evangelicalism that there is a struggle for consensus for what the mission of the church actually is.  Some missional practitioners have recently sensed this need and have come out with a Missional Manifesto.

Exactly what constitutes the mission of the church and how individual Christians life a mission-oriented life seems simple enough, but it has been (and will continue to be) a topic of many books and conferences. At the last Gospel Coalition Conference, Moody Publishers sponsored a session on that very topic, with Matt Chandler facilitating the discussion.  Panelists included Kevin DeYoung, Trevin Wax, and Jonathan Leeman, all of whom are well-respected, careful theologians among the younger generation of Reformed evangelicals.

I encourage you to watch the video below.  I also encourage you to check out DeYoung’s forthcoming book co-written with Greg Gilbert on this very topic.

[vimeo 25624674]